This invention relates to the rendering of medical monitoring device service and, more particularly, to ensuring that access to such service is authorized prior to commencing the service.
Advances in sensor technology, electronics, and communications have made it possible for physiological characteristics of patients to be monitored even when the patients are ambulatory and not in continuous, direct contact with a hospital monitoring system. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,529 describes a monitoring system in which the patient carries a remote monitoring unit with associated physiological sensors. The remote monitoring unit conducts a continuous monitoring of one or more physiological characteristics of the patient according to the medical problem of the patient, such as the heartbeat and its waveform.
One of the business problems associated with the use of such medical monitoring devices is establishing whether the patient""s health-care-benefit payer has authorized the use of the monitoring device and service. In the absence of a proper authorization, the patient may use the medical monitoring device and incur significant charges in the form of rental value of the medical monitoring device, telephone charges, charges at the central monitoring system, and charges by medical personnel, and the providers of those goods and services may not get paid. Bad debts are a continuing concern in the medical field generally. Bad debts are of even greater concern in the case of a portable medical monitoring device and its service where the physical control of the device is in the hands of a third party, such as a prescribing doctor, who does not own the medical monitoring device and is not responsible for improper charges.
There is a need for an approach to controlling access to such medical monitoring devices and their services to ensure that only a properly authorized patient can obtain the service. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.
The present invention provides a method for controlling access to medical monitoring devices and service. The approach ensures that service is initiated and continued only for persons who are properly authorized to have the service. The present approach activates the medical monitoring device and its service only for a person who provides proper identification data and is financially and otherwise properly authorized for the service. The chances of the wrong person being monitored are also reduced. The activation process is quick and largely transparent to the person seeking the service, other than the requirement for inputting the proper identification data.
In accordance with the invention, a method for controlling access to medical monitoring device service comprises the steps of providing a medical monitoring device system having communications access to a central unit, inputting a set of identification data elements into the medical monitoring device system, the medical monitoring device system establishing a communication link with the central unit and communicating the set of identification data elements to the central unit, and the medical monitoring device system and the central unit cooperatively determining whether the medical monitoring device may be activated for rendering medical monitoring device service. The step of determining includes the steps of evaluating the set of identification data elements as to whether they meet a set of basic structural requirements, and obtaining authorization from a third-party source, which evaluating and obtaining steps are preferably done automatically. These evaluating and obtaining steps are typically performed by the central unit, but they may be distributed. In the event that the identification data elements meet the set of basic structural requirements and authorization is obtained, an activation signal is issued to the medical monitoring device system over the communication link. Third-party authorization sources include, for example, an insurance company, the social security administration, a credit-granting company, a physician, and a company responsible for the proper functioning of the medical monitoring device.
In an application of particular interest, the medical monitoring device system comprises a patient-portable unit. It may also include a base station that communicates with the patient-portable unit and also communicates with the central unit. The base station receives the identification data element input and communicates that information with the patient-portable unit and with the central unit as necessary by a land-line or a wireless communication link, as appropriate. The medical monitoring device system may aid the person seeking to gain access to service by locally performing a preliminary evaluation of the set of identification data elements as to whether they meet a set of format requirements, and providing an input diagnostic message in the event that the step of performing a preliminary evaluation determines that the set of identification data elements does not meet the set of format requirements. Such identification data elements may include, for example, a patient name, a patient address, a patient social security number, a patient sex, an identification of the third-party financial source, payment codes, and the name of the patient""s physician.
The activation signal may serve only to activate the medical monitoring device and its services, or the activation signal may serve as an identifier that is included in all subsequent communications between the medical monitoring device and the central unit.
The present approach ensures that medical monitoring device services are provided to properly identified and authorized persons. It also ensures that all persons and agencies responsible for the medical monitoring device and the services are coordinated in their approval of rendering service to the particular patient and in effect have xe2x80x9csigned offxe2x80x9d on the provision of service and the type of service to be provided. Potential legal and financial liability is thereby reduced. Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following more detailed description of the preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention. The scope of the invention is not, however, limited to this preferred embodiment.